Water control roller for offset presses



13, R DELAPLANE 2,162,248

WATER CONTROL ROLLER FOR OFFSET PRESSES Filed March 29, 1939 INVENTOR.

A24 YMO/VD Q firm/ LANE.

BY W12 mm.

Patented June 13,1939

8,162.28 WATER CONTROL IDLE-BRIDE OFFSET DRESSES ma c. Delaplane, Lakewood, Colo. Application hrch zs, lass. Serial No. man

' 1 Claims. (01. 1o1 14s) This invention relates to a water control roller for lithographic presses, moreespecially for use upon presses of the offset type.

It is very seldom, if ever, that the particular job on the lithographic presses overlies the en-' tire surface of the printing plate or rollv and it is therefore desirable to retard the water from being applied to the non-printing portion of the roll, since these portions will accumulate the wa- 19 ter until. it will run or spread over the printing area to interfere with the emcient oil'setting of the latter.

' The principal object of this invention is to provide a control roll which can be readily adjusted along and against any desired portion or portionsof the water fountain roller of the press so as toactasawringerorflq l scetorollbackthe water or solution from the portions which are to be applied outside the printing surface.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the roller and its supportthat it can be quickly and easily changed to cover various widths of surfaces and so that it can be accurately regulated to contact with any desired pressure at any point throughout its length.

reducing or limiting the water on the unused portions of the plate, it is so accurately adjustof the water or solution over the printing surface of the plate.

The usual dampening rollers of an offset press are covered with a fabric, such as molleton. wrapped over a flannel undercovering. It is, of course. impossible to place these coverings with an abmlute even and uniform surface. Therefore, certain portions of the dampening roll will carry too much water or solution to the plate. This excess water must be controlled in order to obtain unifm'mly perfect lithographing. with this invention, the water at any portion of the plate can be accurately controlled to obtain a uniform dampening of the entire plate surface. A further object is to so design the control so thatitwilloccupybuta minimum ofspace and willnot interfere in any way with the operation ,ofthepress orwith-excesstothe waterpan thereon.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for' simplicity, economy, and efficiency.

These will become moreapparent from the following descrlption. v

In the following detailed description of the in-- vention referenceis had to the accompanying While the invention is particularly designed .for'

able that it canbe used to control the uniformityvention applied there slotflofeachboxandisdrllledtoalso drawing which forms apart hereof. Like numerals' refer to like parts in all views ofthe drawing andthroughout the description.

In the drawing: I Fig. 1- is a diagrammatic end view of a portion of a. lithographic pressillustrating the inl'ig. 2 is a plan view of the improved water control roller in place on the press. 1 Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the control roller. 10

Fig. 4 is anenlarged cross section taken on the line 4-4." Hg. 2.

Fig. 5 is a similarly enlarged section, taken on p the line H, Pig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the interchangeis able rollers for the device.

In Fig. l, the usual water or solution pan of a lithographic press is indicated at II with the water fountain roll at i I. The fountain roll I i rotates partially submerged in the fluid of the a pan II. .The roll I l is usually covered with fabric to-pick up waterv from the pan. This is intermittently transferred to a ductorroll II which in turn transfers it to distributing rolls I: from whence it is transferred to a pair of dampening mils ll in contact with a printing plate I! on a plate cylinder. l6. h

Intheusualpressastayrod l1 extendsacross the frame below the water pan to support the latter. This invention makes use of the stay rod 30 I! for its support.

A pair of supporting brackets it are clamped a to the stay rod by means of clamp members is and clamp screws 2|. The upper extremities of the supporting brackets if have openings to receive the extremities of a supporting shaft 22. The members I! are clamped against shoulders on the extremities of the shaft 22 by means of suitable clamping nuts 23 so as to prevent. rotation of the shaft 22. 40

A pair of lever boxes 2| are mounted on the shaft II. The boxes 14 are drilled to slidably receive the shaft, 22. Each of the boxes is slotted from its bottom, as shown at 26 to form two side portions through which the shaft 12 passes. One of these side portions is split as indicated at 21 and this split may be clamped closed by means of aclampscrewfltolocktheboxinanydesired positionontheshaft22.-

A roller supporting lever 2| extends into the receive the shaft 22 which acts as a pivot for the lever.

' The angle of projection of the levers II can be vregulatedbymeansofapairofsetscrews 2| andIlwhicharethreadedi-hrmlshthetopof the box 24 to engage the lever 2| on opposite sides of the axis of the shaft 22.

The set screws 29 and a are provided with lock nuts 3i acting against felt washers 12 to prevent the lock nuts II from becoming loosened by the vibration of the press. It can be readily seen that if the screw 2| is tightened and the screw ll is loosened. the free extremity of the lever 28 can be raised and if this procedure is reversed, the free extremity can be lowered.

The levers 28 support a moisture control roller 33 preferably formed of a relatively thick, soft rubber tube mounted about a metallic core 3|. The extremities of the core are reduced to form bearing spindles 35 which rotate in suitable bearing openings in the extremities of the lever 3!.

The bearing spindles 35 of the cores are still further reduced to provide threaded studs 26 for receiving retaining nuts 31. we

A variety of rollers of different lengths, such as shown in Fig. 6 are provided. It can be readily seen that by simply removing the nuts 31, the rollers can be quickly removed and replaced with other rollers of any desired length.

It is desired to call attention to the plurality of accurate adjustments possible with this construction. Any desired number of the devices can be mounted on the shaft 22, to cover portions of the fountain roll it which requires regulation; the rollers may be of any suitable length to control the area of regulation; the entire assembly can be brought toward or swung away from the roll ilby loosening the clamp screws 20; the boxes can be moved longitudinally of or rotated on the shaft 22 by looseningthe clamp screws 25; each extremity of each roller can be accurately adjusted to contact the roller II with any desired pressure by adjusting the set screws 29 and 30 without affecting the other extremity thereof. This accurate adjustment is necessary in order to allow the fabric covering on the roll H to retain exactly the desired amount of moisture after the passing of the control roller.

The excess moisture is wrung or squeezed from the covering of roll H and flows back to the pan l0. Thus, absolute and perfect control of the surplus water and solution is had at all times.

It has been found in actual practice that by independently adjustingthe two extremities of the roller 33, the covering on the roller II can be made to carry five times as much water at one extremity of the control roll as at the other.

The compactness of the device allows it to fit snugly alongside of the pan and over the roll ll so that it does not interfere with the regular duties of the pressmen and the position of the rollers and the adjustment thereof can be made while the press is running so that no shut downs are necessary.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A water control roller for a lithograph press comprising: a pairof box members; a shaft passing through both box members; a roller lever extending into a slot in each box member and surrounding the shaft therein; a resilient roller rotatably supported by the free extremities of said levers; means for securing said boxes at any desired point on said shaft; and means for varying the angle of-projection of said levers from said boxes.

2. A water control roller for a lithograph press comprising: a pair of box members; a shaft passing through both box members; a roller lever extending into a slot in each box member and surrounding the shaft therein; a resilient roller rotatably supported by the free extremities of said levers; means for securing said boxes at any desired point on said shaft; and adjusting members in each box contacting the lever therein to vary and set the angle of projection of said lever.

3. A water control roller for a lithograph press comprising: a pair of box members; a shaft passing through both box members; a roller lever extending into a slot in each box member and surrounding the shaft therein; a resilient roller rotatably supported by the free extremities of saidlevers; means for securing said boxes at any desired point on said shaft; and a pair of set screws threaded into said box over the slot therein, saidscrews contacting said lever so as to vary the angle of projection therein and to lock said lever in the adjusted position.

' 4. A water control roller for a lithograph press comprising: a pair of box members; a shaft passing through both box members; a roller lever extending into a slot in each box member and surrounding the shaft therein; a resilient roller rotatably supported by the free extremities of said levers; means for securing said boxes at any desired point on said shaft; means for varying the angle of projection of said levers from said boxes; and bracket arms for supportingsaid shaft in a horizontal position on a lithograph machine.

5. A water control roller for a lithograph press comprising: a pair of box members; a shaft passing through both box members; a roller level extending into a slot in each box member and surrounding the shaft therein; a roller core; reduced spindles on the extremities of said roller core passing through openings in said levers; means for preventing withdrawal of said spindles with said levers; a tubular resilient member surrounding said roller core; and means for adjusting and setting the angle of projection of said levers from said boxes. v

6. A water control roller for a lithograph press comprising: a pair of box members; a shaft passing through both box members; a roller lever extending into a slot in each box member and surrounding the shaft therein; a resilient roller rotatably supported by the free extremities of said levers; means for securing said boxes at any desired point on said shaft; means for varying the angle of projection of said levers from said boxes; and bracket arms for supporting said shaft in a horizontal position on a lithograph machine, said bracket arms being rotatably adjustable on both said machine and said shaft.

7. A water control roller for a lithograph press comprising: a pair of box members; a shaft passing through both box members; a roller lever extending into a slot in each box member and surrounding the shaft therein; a resilient roller rotatably supported by the free extremities of said levers, the portions of each box at one side of said slot being split; means for drawing said split together to clamp the box on said shaft;

(lit

and means for varying the angle of projection of said levers from said boxes.

RAYMOND. C. DELAPLANE. 

